This breakfast briefing will take a look at the outlook for the risk reduction market - looking in particular at how schemes can best prepare to conduct an insurance transaction, capacity in the market as well as the key factors that are likely to affect both pricing and demand.

Professional Pensions Investment Conference has gathered a great following and is a widely respected event which brings together senior decision makers within public and private sector pension schemes.

So far, DC plans have largely been focused on the onset of auto-enrolment and changes to the regulatory framework - be it the ‘charge cap,' ‘pension freedoms' or consultations around ‘value for money', says Annabel Tonry, Executive Director at J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM).

In 2015 George Osborne, then the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, decided that those age over 55 could take much more of their pension in cash. This has since opened up a range of possibilities for DC scheme members in the world of pensions.

Italian authority tenders for manager

ITALY - The Autorità per l'energia elettrica e il gas, the Italian regulatory authority for electricity and gas is tendering for a manager to run an open pension fund for its employees.

The fund will be defined contribution, and of the multicomparto design, offering employees a choice of investment styles. One of the investment styles is to guarantee the preservation of capital, at least in the case of the attainment of complementary pension requirements, of death or permanent disability which leads to a cessation of working life.

The authority expects initial flows to the fund to be some e2.2m, with a further e600 000 in 2005.

Membership in Italy's open pension funds grew by 8% in 2003 and assets increased by 42% to e1.3bn, according to the Covip annual report 2003.

In 2003 balanced open funds returned 4.9%, equity open funds 8.4% and pure fixed income funds 1.9%.

Proposals are due to the Autorità per l'energia elettrica e il gas and Gas in Milan by 17:00, 18 May 2004.